Publications
2024
Full Text: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42247-024-00840-9
This report discusses the synthesis of fluorescent particles for nanomedicine and biological applications such as imaging, diagnostics, drug delivery, and biosensing. The authors developed a novel, green synthesis method for fluorescent poly(GMA-co-EGDMA) particles using UV-initiated one-step emulsion polymerization, comparing microfluidic and batch reactors. Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) was incorporated to achieve tunable fluorescence. The batch method produced polydisperse, spherical microparticles, while the microfluidic method yielded nonspherical nanoparticles. The particles were characterized using SEM, fluorescence microscopy, and FTIR, showing promise for fluorescence imaging and bio-detection.
Full text: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00604-024-06186-7
This study introduces aptamer-functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) nanoparticles for adenosine triphosphate (ATP) detection where the POSS nanoparticles were synthesized in a one-step, continuous flow microfluidic reactor utilizing thermal polymerization. A microemulsion containing POSS monomers was generated in the microfluidic reactor which was designed to prevent clogging by using a continuous oil flow around the emulsion during thermal polymerization. Surfaces of POSS nanoparticles were biomimetically modified by polydopamine. The aptamer sequence for ATP was successfully attached to POSS nanoparticles. The aptamer-modified POSS nanoparticles were tested for affinity-based biosensor applications using ATP as a model molecule. The nanoparticles were able to capture ATP molecules successfully with an affinity constant of 46.5 M. Based on this result, it was …
Full text: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.analchem.3c04412
This study presents a novel miniaturized device as a 3D-printed microfluidic magnetic platform specifically designed to manipulate magnetic microparticles in a microfluidic chip for rapid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) isolation. The novel design enables the movement of the magnetic particles in the same or opposite directions with the flow or suspends them in continuous flow. A computational model was developed to assess the effectiveness of the magnetic manipulation of the particles. Superparamagnetic monodisperse silica particles synthesized in-house are utilized for the isolation of fish sperm DNA and human placenta DNA. It was demonstrated that the proposed platform can perform DNA isolation within 10 min with an isolation efficiency of 50% at optimum operating conditions. 
2023
Full text: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s
This study aims to establish a primary rat hepatocyte culture model to evaluate dose-dependent hepatotoxic effects of drug carriers (lipopolymer nanoparticles; LPNs) temporal. Primary rat hepatocyte cell cultures were used to determine half-maximal Inhibition Concentrations (IC50) of the drug-carrier library. Drug-carrier library, at concentrations <50 μg/mL, is benign to primary rat hepatocytes as determined using albumin and urea secretions. Albumin, as a hepatic biomarker, exhibited a more sensitive and faster outcome, compared to urea, for the determination of the IC50 value of LPNs. Temporal measurements of hepatic biomarkers including urea and albumin, and rigorous physicochemical (hydrodynamic diameter, surface charge, etc.) characterization, should be combined to evaluate the hepatotoxicity of drug carrier libraries in screens.
synthesized catalyst.
Full Text: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10904-023-02540-z
This work reports the synthesis of two novel polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) hybrid particles by investigating the effects of different crosslinking agents on morphology, porosity, chemical structure, crystalline properties, and thermal behavior of the resultant products. The hydrophilic glycerol dimethacrylate and hydrophobic ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) were used as co-monomer and crosslinking agents to obtain novel poly(POSS-co-GDMA) and poly(POSS-co-EGDMA) hybrid spherical microparticles by step-wise Pickering-like seeded polymerization. The crosslinking agent played a key role in specific surface area (SSA), average pore size, and pore volume, characterized by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller and Barrett–Joyner–Halenda analysis. When poly(POSS-co-GDMA) possess 88.0m2/g SSA, poly(POSS-co-EGDMA) has 3.5m2/g. Both particles exhibit a homogenous spherical shape in the polydisperse form and hybrid organosilica structure defined by scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The hybrid particles showed an amorphous silica composite character with thermal resistance up to 420 °C, determined by X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. The mesoporous hybrid POSS particles could have great potential for many advanced material applications.
2022
Full Text: yhttps://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/hjbc/issue/72920/879777
Epoxy-functional porous polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) microparticles were synthesized by templated polymerization in two-steps by using monodisperse 2µm poly(GMA) seed latex particles as a template. In the first step, templated polymer latex was swollen in emulsion medium to obtain micron size porous POSS particles. In the second step, the hydrophobic monomers metharcyl-POSS, epoxy-functional monomer glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), the crosslinking agent GDMA and the thermal imitator diffused into the swollen template in emulsion medium for free-radical polymerization. The resultant poly(POSS-co-GDMA-co-GMA) microparticles were obtained in polydisperse form due to the high molecular weight of the silica cage core of POSS created difficulty in the diffusion step. However; monodisperse composite microparticles were obtained around 5.8 ± 0.4µm in size via centrifugal post-separation. The spherical fine porous hybrid structure was fully characterized as morphological, thermal, chemical composition, and crystalline form by SEM, TGA, FTIR, and XRD respectively.
2021
Full Text: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00289-015-1586-y
Deposition of nanoparticles on a substrate in a controlled manner leads to the formation of multifunctional surfaces and therefore devices. Electrostatic forces can be utilized to manipulate different types of materials such as magnetic, insulating, conducting, semiconducting, organic and inorganic, without altering the chemistry of the surface. However, simultaneous and successive electrophoretic deposition (EPD) methods are not fully utilized for nanoparticles with different characteristics. In this work, electrostatic forces are applied to direct and position charged nanoparticles suspended in aqueous dispersions on desired areas of the surface. Assemblies of particles are obtained by electrostatic attraction generated by gold electrodes of sizes from 500 nm to 50 µm that are fabricated by thermal evaporation. Different types of charged nanoparticles were simultaneously attracted towards different locations of the surface by means of EPD; as a result, alternating nanoparticle patterns and particle deposition on the same designated areas for forming composite areas are obtained. Assemblies formed from positively charged silver nanoparticles and negatively charged fluorescent latex and silica nanoparticles are demonstrated. The position of metallic-, polymeric- and inorganic-based nanoparticles is controlled by the design of electrode geometry.
2020
This research introduces for the first time a simple one-step synthesis method based on emulsion polymerization to obtain spherical shape poly(Methacryl-Polyoctahedral Silsesquioxanes) “poly(M-POSS)” micro/nano hybrid latex particles through a free radical mechanism. The polymerization parameters such as the ultrasound source, the amount of surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and the addition of the cosurfactants SDS/polyvinylpyrrolidone K30 (PVP-K30), and SDS/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) in emulsion medium were investigated. The morphological, chemical, thermal, and crystalline properties of poly(M-POSS), as a function of these parameters, were analyzed by means of scanning electron microscope, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and X-ray diffraction, respectively. The ultrasound source was found to have no significant effect on the fınal properties of the particles. However, the addition of a cosurfactant plays a major role in the distribution and coagulation of the latex particles. The addition of PVA as a cosurfactant significantly decreased the coalescence behavior of the latex particles, whereas the addition of PVP-K30 caused Ostwald ripening effect in over-micron size particles. As a result, the poly(M-POSS) micro/nano particles were obtained in spherical shape in the size range between 0.2 and 20 μm. They possess both organic and inorganic parts with thermal resistance up to 400°C, which potentially serve as coating or filler additive materials.
2019
Full text: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10904-018-0899-3
Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) nanoparticles have gain much attention due to their organic and inorganic hybrid structure that combine with metal nanoparticles to improve their functional properties for utilize in potential application areas. In this study, we first time present a green route for in-situ growth of silver on the surface of POSS based support particles by using mussel inspired polydopamine (PDA) coating. The POSS based nanocomposite support were synthesized by free radical mechanism in one-step emulsion polymerization of methacryl(M)-POSS monomer. Smooth spherical shape in size range of 200 nm–400 nm poly(M-POSS) hybrid latex particles were covered by the functional amine and catechol groups of PDA. Silver layer were growth on PDA@poly(M-POSS) nanocomposite template. The novel multi-functional Ag@PDA@poly(M-POSS) nanocomposite particles were fully characterized by SEM, EDAX, XRD and FTIR analysis. The catalytic activity of the particles was checked by pseudo-first order kinetic reaction of nitrophenol compound, which is highly toxic for environment. The catalytic reaction performance was discussed by varying the catalyst amount and concentration of 4-nitrophenol. Compare to similar catalysts, results showed that Ag@PDA@poly(M-POSS) nanocomposite particles exhibited excellent catalytic activity for the rapid degradation of 4-NP.
Full Text: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00289-015-1586-y
Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) particles are one of the smallest organosilica nano-cage structures with high multifunctionality that show both organic and inorganic properties. Until now poly(POSS) structures have been synthesized from beginning with a methacryl-POSS monomer in free-radical mechanism with batch-wise methods that use sacrificial templates or additional multisteps. This study introduces a novel one-pot synthesis inside a continuous flow, double temperature zone microfluidic reactor where the methodology is based on dispersion polymerization. As a result, spherical monodisperse POSS microparticles were obtained and characterized to determine their morphology, surface chemical structure, and thermal behavior by SEM, FTIR, and TGA, respectively. These results were also compared and reported with the outcomes of batch-wise synthesis. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019, 57, 1396–1403
2018
Full text: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10904-018-0899-3
The objective of this study was to fabricate a multifunctional catalyst for removal of environmental pollutants. By this aim, poly(mono-2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl succinate-co-glycerol dimethacrylate) “poly(MMES-co-GDMA)” monosized microbeads with carboxyl functionality were synthesized 5 µm in diameter. Iron oxide nanoparticles were attached onto the polymeric microbeads to obtain superparamagnetic properties for easily collecting them from the reaction medium by using natural magnet. The magnetic polymer microbeads were decorated with gold nanoparticles ca. 15 nm in size. The magnetic-monodisperse catalyst carrying gold nanoparticles exhibited several advantages with respect to similar plasmonic catalysts in the form of nanoparticles, like higher aggregation resistance, easier recovery from the reaction medium with natural magnets and reuse of catalyst without leaching gold nanoparticles. The magnetic gold catalyst was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and X-ray diffraction spectrophotometry (XRD). This newly designed catalyst was used to degrade a toxic organic substance, 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in an aqueous medium. The degradation process of 4-NP to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) was monitored by a UV–Visible spectrophotometer. The effects of reaction conditions, catalyst and organic pollutant concentrations and temperature, on the plasmonic catalytic activity were determined. The results of repetitive trials were successful with high catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-NP to 4-AP form in several minutes by using and reusing the synthesized catalyst.
Full Text: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00289-015-1586-y
Monodisperse silica microspheres with bimodal pore-size distribution were proposed as a high performance sorbent for DNA isolation in batch fashion under equilibrium conditions. The proposed sorbent including both macroporous and mesoporous compartments was synthesized 5.1 μm in-size, by a “staged shape templated hydrolysis and condensation method”. Hydrophilic polymer based sorbents were also obtained in the form of monodisperse-macroporous microspheres ca 5.5 μm in size, with different functionalities, by a developed “multi-stage microsuspension copolymerization” technique. The batch DNA isolation performance of proposed material was comparatively investigated using polymer based sorbents with similar morphologies. Among all sorbents tried, the best DNA isolation performance was achieved with the monodisperse silica microspheres with bimodal pore size distribution. The collocation of interconnected mesoporous and macroporous compartments within the monodisperse silica microspheres provided a high surface area and reduced the intraparticular mass transfer resistance and made easier both the adsorption and desorption of DNA. Among the polymer based sorbents, higher DNA isolation yields were achieved with the monodisperse-macroporous polymer microspheres carrying trimethoxysilyl and quaternary ammonium functionalities. However, batch DNA isolation performances of polymer based sorbents were significantly lower with respect to the silica microspheres.
2017
Full Text:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0928493116318379
Monodisperse-porous silica microspheres 5.1 μm in size with a bimodal pore-size distribution (including both mesoporous and macroporous compartments) were obtained using a newly developed staged-shape templated hydrolysis and condensation protocol. Synthesized silica microspheres and monodisperse-porous polymer-based microspheres with different functionalities, synthesized by staged-shape template polymerization, were comparatively tested as sorbents for human genomic DNA (hgDNA) isolation in a microfluidic system. Microcolumns with a permeability range of 1.8–8.5 × 10− 13 m2 were fabricated by the slurry-packing of silica- or polymer-based microspheres. The monodisperse-porous silica microspheres showed the best performance in hgDNA isolation in an aqueous buffer medium; > 2500 ng of hgDNA was recovered with an isolation yield of about 50%, using an hgDNA feed concentration of 100 ng/μL. Monodisperse-porous silica microspheres were also evaluated as a sorbent for genomic DNA isolation from human whole blood in the microfluidic system; 14 ng of hgDNA was obtained from 10 μL of whole blood lysate with an isolation yield of 64%. Based on these results, we conclude that monodisperse-porous silica microspheres with a bimodal pore size distribution are a promising sorbent for the isolation of hgDNA in larger amounts and with higher yields compared to the sorbents previously tried in similar microfluidic systems.
2016
Full Text: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022286016304227
We report the preparation of silver-coated magnetic polymethacrylate core–shell nanoparticles for use in surface-enhanced Raman scattering based drug detection. Monodisperse porous poly (mono-2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl succinate-co-glycerol dimethacrylate), poly (MMES-co-GDMA) microbeads of ca. 5 μm diameter were first synthesized through a multistage microsuspension polymerization technique to serve as a carboxyl-bearing core region. Microspheres were subsequently magnetized by the co-precipitation of ferric ions, aminated through the surface hydroxyl groups and decorated with Au nanoparticles via electrostatic attraction. An Ag shell was then formed on top of the Au layer through a seed-mediated growth process, resulting in micron-sized monodisperse microbeads that exhibit Raman enhancement effects due to the roughness of the Ag surface layer. The core–shell microspheres were used as a new substrate for the detection of amoxicillin at trace concentrations up to 10−8 M by SERS. The proposed SERS platform can be evaluated as a useful tool for the follow-up amoxicillin pollution and low-level detection of amoxicillin in aqueous media.
Full Text: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00289-015-1586-y
Zwitterionic, monodisperse-porous polymer beads were newly synthesized using a hydrophilic acrylic crosslinker (glycerol dimethacrylate, GDMA) or a hydrophobic one (ethylene dimethacrylate) including a zwitterionic functional monomer sulfopropyl-2-vinylpyridinium hydroxide (SVP) in a modified-staged shape template polymerization. The effects of monomer/seed latex ratio and diluent/ seed latex ratio on the particle size, mean pore size, pore size distribution and specific surface area of the poly(1-(3-sulfopropyl)-2-vinylpyridinium hydroxide-coglycerol dimethacrylate) poly(SVP-co-GDMA) and poly(1-(3-sulfopropyl)-2- vinylpyridinium hydroxide-co-ethylene glycerol dimethacrylate) poly(SVP-coEDMA) microbeads were investigated. For both types of microbeads, the mean size decreased with decreasing monomer/seed latex ratio and decreasing diluent/seed latex ratio. Almost tenfold higher specific surface area was achieved using a hydrophobic crosslinking agent (EDMA) with respect to the hydrophilic one. Poly(SVP-co-GDMA) microbeads were satisfactorily used as a stationary phase in HILIC mode for the isocratic separation of polar organics with the plate heights up to 124 microns.
